The use of fasteners for retaining protective equipment such as helmets or other headgear on a wearer is well known in the art. Fasteners currently in use include snap fasteners, D-rings and other configurations of metal and plastic fasteners. Effective protection in a threatening environment requires that such retaining means remain secured, sometimes under a load of 440 pounds or more. On the other hand, in some instances such as fire it may be necessary for the wearer to quickly remove the protective device. Prior-art fasteners that are satisfactory for most purposes generally do not fulfill those additional requirements of high load strength and ease of disconnection.